CurriConnects Book List - Frontiers and Settlers

Frontiers and SettlersDiscover historical fiction and non-fiction about colonists and settlers involved in westward expansion, and settlers in Alaska. Use this list as you study the frontier spirit or any of several time periods when the U.S. was growing and changing.

Early Elementary Books

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier - Jennifer Armstrong, (978-0810942387) , Non-fictionInterest level: 0-5, Lexile: 680, ESL level: 3This short biography of Audubon stresses his paintings of birds and other wildlife that made him a leader in both wildlife observation and wildlife art.

Bewildered for Three Days: As to Why Daniel Boone Never Wore his Coonskin Cap - Andrew Glass, (978-0823414468) , FictionInterest level: 3-6, Lexile: 670, ESL level: 2Daniel must use newly learned skills to stay alive and rescue his cap from a bear,

Boom Town - Sonia Levitin, (978-0531300435) , FictionInterest level: 2-4, Lexile: 590, ESL level: 2-3Amanda starts making and selling pies in a gold rush town after her father moves the family there; she also encourages others in the town to provide other necessary services.

Buffalo Music - Tracey Fern, (978-0618723416) , FictionInterest level: 3-7, Lexile: 860, ESL level: 3Based on the life of Mary Ann Goodnight, this book depicts her raising buffalo to replenish the herd in Texas and to begin new ones in Yellowstone Park.

The Golly Sisters Go West - Betsy Byers, (978-0064441322) , FictionInterest level: 1-4, Lexile: 210, ESL level: 2Two sisters go West, making their way by entertaining with a sing and dance routine in this easy reader.

I Have Heard of a Land - Joyce Carol Thomas, (978-0060234775) , FictionInterest level: 1-2, ESL level: 1 - 2An African American woman resettles in the Oklahoma territory in order to start a new home on free land.

Roughing it on the Oregon Trail - Diane Stanley, (978-0060270650) , FictionInterest level: 2-4, Lexile: 410, ESL level: 2-3A family trio makes their way West along the Oregon Trail in this new twist on time travel.

Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan, (978-0064402057) , FictionInterest level: 1-5, Lexile: 560, ESL level: 4Sarah comes to the Witting family to be a new wife for Papa, and the children wonder if she will be nice in this first book in a series of five.

Snowshoe Thompson - Nancy Smiler Levinson, (978-0060238018) , FictionInterest level: 2-3, Lexile: 330, ESL level: 2Enjoy this fictionalized account of the life of John Thompson, who skied across the Sierra Nevada Mountains to deliver mail while on his way to the CA Gold Rush.

Upper Elementary to Middle School Books

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier - Jennifer Armstrong, (978-0810942387) , Non-fictionInterest level: 4-7, Lexile: 680, ESL level: 2 - 3This book is a brief biography of the life and works of John James Audobon, the famed bird painter.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple - Karen Cushman, (978-0395728062) , FictionInterest level: 5-8, Lexile: 1030, ESL level: 3A pre-teen girl must adjust to life in a rough California mining town after moving there with her mother from the East Coast.

The Borning Room - Paul Fleischmann, (978-0590460439) , FictionInterest level: 4-7, Lexile: 800, ESL level: 3Georgina shares her memories of growing up on the Ohio frontier as she lies in her childhood room at the end of her life.

By the Shores of Silver Lake - Laura Ingalls Wilder, (978-0060264161) , FictionInterest level: 3-8, Lexile: 820, ESL level: 2 - 3Laura and family move to the Dakota territory and plan their house they'll build on the homestead they claim.

Frontier Village - Andy Chambers, (978-0816750405) , FictionInterest level: 3-6, Lexile: 710, ESL level: 3The Nesbitt family comes to Wisconsin, and the town of Nesbitt Crossing grows into a viable community with a school and churches etc.

The Game of Silence - Louise Erdrich, (978-00602978-93) , FictionInterest level: 5-9, Lexile: 900, ESL level: 3A young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, must adjust when her family moves West in the 40's.

Grasshopper Summer - Ann Warren Turner, (978-0027895117) , FictionInterest level: 3-6, Lexile: 580, ESL level: 3Sam and his family face many challenges in their new home in the Dakota Territory where they confront establishing a new life and a plague of grasshoppers.

The Legend of Zoey - Candie Moonshower, (978-0440239246) , FictionInterest level: 4-7, Lexile: 650, ESL level: 3 to 4Zoey relates her time travel adventure back to New Madrid, MO in 1811 in her diary; she meets another girl who is pioneering in the early time.

The Light in the Forest - Conrad Richter, (978-0449704370) , FictionInterest level: 3-6, Lexile: 870, ESL level: 3A young Anglo man who had been raised by Indians as True Son finds he must return to live with the people he's learned to mistrust.

Mary On Horseback: Three Mountain Stories - Rosemary Wells, (978-0803721548) , Non-fictionInterest level: 4-7, Lexile: 660, ESL level: 3Mary Breckenridge, as the first nurse to work in the rural mountains of Appalachia, helps three families in the separate stories included in this volume.

Mocassin Trail - Eloise McGraw, (978-0140321708) , FictionInterest level: 5-8, Lexile: 960, ESL level: 3 - 4After a white boy raised by Indians is reunited with his family, he experiences difficult periods of adjustment to a more Western life.

Mountain Solo - Jeanette Ingold, (978-0152053581) , FictionInterest level: 5-12, Lexile: 810, ESL level: 3 - 4A child prodigy violinist gives up the hectic competitive life of a young musician in NY City to return to her roots in Montana and contemplates a musician's life, both in the past and present.

On the Other Side of the Hill - Roger MacBride, (978-0064405751) , FictionInterest level: 4-6, Lexile: 860, ESL level: 4Rose Wilder's family faces a series of natural and weather disasters on their Missouri homestead (Little House Books series).

Twister on Tuesday - Mary Pope Osborne, (978-0679890690) , FictionInterest level: 3-4, Lexile: 310, ESL level: 2 to 3Jack and Annie learn about prairie life in their latest time travel adventure when they fly to Kansas and experience a real tornado.

Weasel - Cynthia DeFelice, (978-0027264579) , FictionInterest level: 4-7, Lexile: 870, ESL level: 3Eleven-year-old Nathan must make his own decisions when he has to confront an evil killer in the frontier town where he lives with his ailing father.